I don’t know exactly when we first said I love you, but the first email exchange containing the phrase, which he casually includes before signing off, is dated October 3 of that year.

Nearly four years later, I sometimes type his email address in the search box in my Gmail.

"About last night," the Seattle Seahawks quarterback exclaimed, winking as his new wife laughed in embarrassment. Last July, the couple made headlines when they revealed they were going to abstain from sex before marriage.